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Adsorption dehumidifiers · Two series

DanVex AD Series — adsorption dehumidifiers for cold and low-humidity environments

A range of adsorption dehumidifiers in two complementary lines: AD Compact (0.6–3 kg/h, single-phase 220–230 V, < 45–65 dB) for archives, server rooms, restoration work and concealed installations; AD Industrial (5–36 kg/h, three-phase 380–415 V) for pharmaceutical cleanrooms, lithium-battery dry rooms, ice rinks, cold stores and food production. Adsorption technology works where condensation cannot — at ambient temperatures down to −20 °C and target humidity down to 1% RH. Across the range: a Proflute silica-gel rotor, a two-fan design, Modbus RTU RS-485 connectivity for direct BMS integration, EN 60204 electrical assemblies and no drain required.

DrainageNot required
Capacity0.6–36kg/h
Operating range−20 / +60°C
DryingUp to1% RH
Power supplySingle / three-phase
BMS-ready: BMSModbus RTU

About the range

Adsorption dehumidification removes moisture from air by passing it through a slowly rotating silica-gel rotor — the same physical principle as industrial desiccant dryers, at the scale of a room or factory installation. Unlike condensation dehumidifiers (refrigerant cycle), adsorption stays effective at low temperature and reaches dew points far below zero. This technology is chosen when the operating environment is colder than +15 °C, the target is below 30% RH, or both — cold stores, freezers, ice rinks, pharmaceutical dry rooms, battery dry rooms, archives in unheated buildings.

The DanVex AD range is organised in two product lines that share the same core engineering — Proflute rotor, two fans, ducted installation, no drain — and differ in scale and electrical architecture. The AD Compact Series (AD-200 / AD-400 / AD-550) runs on standard single-phase 220–230 V, at < 45–65 dB, suitable for concealed installations, in an AISI 304 stainless-steel housing. The AD Industrial Series (AD-800 / AD-1000 / AD-1500 / AD-3000 / AD-5000) runs on three-phase 380–415 V, in steps from 5 to 36 kg/h; the two largest models add a programmable PLC with a 7″ screen and a thermal-bridge-free double-wall housing.

How does adsorption work?

A slowly rotating silica-gel rotor — the drying element — is divided into two zones: about 75% of the face area for process air (the room or duct being dried) and 25% for regeneration air (a smaller hot stream that drives moisture out of the silica gel and exhausts it outdoors). The rotor turns continuously, and each segment alternately adsorbs moisture from the room and hands it to the regeneration stream. The two streams are physically separated and driven by two independent fans — the two-fan design.

Three engineering points matter to the buyer. First, no drain is required — moisture leaves the unit as warm vapour through the regeneration duct, not as condensate; simpler installation and the elimination of a frequent failure point (frozen drain lines in cold storage). Second, low-temperature performance is fundamentally different — condensation dehumidifiers rely on cooling air below its dew point and stop working efficiently below about +5 °C; adsorption is a chemical-affinity process, not a thermodynamic one — it works as long as there is moisture in the air, even at −20 °C. Third, the two-fan design preserves room pressure — single-fan units draw regeneration air from the very room being dried, depressurising it and pulling untreated outdoor air in through gaps; DanVex AD units have two independent fans and a regeneration stream from outdoors, so the room stays neutral.

No drain requiredIndoor or outdoor installationIndependent process & regeneration fans Runs from −20 °CDrying down to 1% RH

Engineering standards across the range

What separates an industrial adsorption dehumidifier from a consumer desiccant is a set of design decisions shared by the Compact and Industrial lines. These are the standards every DanVex AD model is built on:

Proflute silica-gel rotor

A rotor from Proflute — one of the two leading European manufacturers of adsorption rotors. Stable performance at design conditions, a predictable adsorption curve and a 5–8-year life in non-corrosive service with regeneration below 140 °C. Selection for every project is run in the original Proflute software.

Two-fan design

The two streams are driven by two independent process and regeneration fans. Room pressure is preserved (no depressurisation as in single-fan configurations), the regeneration stream is routed outdoors or to a separate exhaust, and capacity is not eroded by regeneration consuming room air.

Operating range −20…+60 °C

Adsorption stays effective where condensation fails — below +5 °C ambient the conventional refrigerant cycle quickly loses capacity, and below 0 °C it ices up and collapses. The DanVex AD range runs continuously from −20 °C to +40 °C (Compact and the smaller industrial units) or +60 °C (on AD-3000 and AD-5000).

Drying down to 1% RH

The target humidity the technology can reach — the limit applies at ideal inlet temperature and airflow. For pharmaceutical cleanrooms, lithium-battery dry rooms, semiconductor and electronics production and other low targets unreachable by condensation dehumidifiers.

Housings across the range

Compact housings are AISI 304 stainless steel (IP44). Industrial housings are powder-coated steel; the two largest models (AD-3000 / AD-5000) add a polyurethane double-wall panel in an aluminium frame with no thermal bridges and a condensation-free surface in normal operation.

Modbus RTU RS-485 + EN 60204

BMS integration is standard, not an option — the Modbus RTU RS-485 protocol on every model in both series without a protocol gateway. Electrical assemblies to EN 60204 (safety of industrial machinery), Class I protection, IP44 (Compact) or IPX3 (industrial) enclosure, and IP54 industrial fan motors with Class F insulation.

How to choose — decision guide

Before sizing by capacity, settle the right technology and series. Adsorption is the correct choice for a cold room, a low target humidity, or both; otherwise condensation is more economical in ordinary industrial conditions.

Your situationRecommended seriesWhy
A cold environment (below +15 °C) or a very low humidity target (below 30%) — cold stores, freezers, pharmaceutical dry rooms, archives in unheated buildings — with single-phase 220–230 V supply or a quiet-operation requirementAD CompactSingle-phase 220–230 V, 45–65 dB noise, AISI 304 stainless steel, IP44 protection, ducted installation. Models: AD-200, AD-400, AD-550 (0.6–3 kg/h)
A factory-scale or facility-wide adsorption installation on three-phase supply — pharmaceutical cleanrooms, lithium-battery dry rooms, ice rinks, food production with low targets, large cold storageAD IndustrialThree-phase 380–415 V, 5–36 kg/h, electric regeneration heater, Modbus RTU on the smaller models, PLC with 7″ screen on AD-3000 / AD-5000, thermal-bridge-free housing on the two largest
An ordinary industrial environment, +15 °C and above, target 40–60% RH (warehouses, food production at room temperature, manufacturing halls, grow rooms) — condensation is more energy-efficientStationary DEH-KStationary refrigerant-cycle industrial dehumidifiers (DEH-K Series), 240–1000 L/day, with Full Inverter on every model, R-32 refrigerant and top discharge. Lower energy cost per litre of water in conditions where condensation works

The DanVex AD range

AD Compact Series  0.6–3 kg/h · 180–550 m³/h process · 220–230 V · < 45–65 dB · AISI 304 · IP44

Quiet ducted adsorption units on single-phase supply for concealed installation. AISI 304 stainless-steel housing, G3 filter, Modbus RTU RS-485 connectivity, auto-restart and settings memory. For cold storage, archives, museums, small pharmaceutical rooms, restoration work and specialised production. Models: AD-200 / AD-400 / AD-550.

View the AD Compact Series →

AD Industrial Series  5–36 kg/h · 820–5000 m³/h process · 380–415 V · −20…+60 °C (AD-3000/5000) · IPX3

High-capacity ducted adsorption units on three-phase supply for factory installations. Proflute rotor, two fans with belt-driven rotor, G4 panel filter, Modbus RTU connectivity. AD-3000 and AD-5000 add a PLC with a 7″ touch screen and a thermal-bridge-free double-wall housing. Models: AD-800 / AD-1000 / AD-1500 / AD-3000 / AD-5000.

View the AD Industrial Series →

Find by application

ApplicationRecommended series
Cold storage, cold rooms and freezersAD Compact (small rooms) or AD Industrial (large warehouses)
Pharmaceutical cleanrooms and dry roomsAD Industrial (PLC with 7″ screen on AD-3000 / AD-5000)
Lithium-battery and semiconductor dry roomsAD Industrial — for 1% RH targets
Ice rinksAD Industrial (usually AD-3000 / AD-5000)
Food production with low humidity targets (powders, confectionery, freeze-drying, spices)AD Industrial
Archives and museumsAD Compact — quiet operation and concealed installation
Defence and military storage (ammunition, electronics, equipment)AD Compact or AD Industrial by volume
Plastic injection moulding — resin pellet dryingAD Industrial
Paper and cardboard millsAD Industrial
Cold-weather water-damage restorationAD Compact — for sub-zero conditions where mobile condensation units stop
Restoration workshops and conservation laboratoriesAD Compact

Find by capacity

Required capacityModelType / supply
Up to 0.6 kg/hAD-200Compact · single-phase · 45 dB
Up to 2.2 kg/hAD-400Compact · single-phase · 50 dB
Up to 3 kg/hAD-550Compact · single-phase · 65 dB
Up to 5 kg/hAD-800Industrial · three-phase
Up to 7 kg/hAD-1000Industrial · three-phase
Up to 11 kg/hAD-1500Industrial · three-phase
Up to 21.6 kg/hAD-3000Industrial · three-phase · PLC + 7″ screen
Up to 36 kg/hAD-5000Industrial · three-phase · PLC + 7″ screen
Above 36 kg/hSeveral AD Industrial units in parallelSized per project

Capacities are measured at 20 °C / 60% RH (the industry-standard test condition for adsorption units). Actual capacity depends on inlet temperature, humidity and airflow. In sub-zero applications specific moisture removal stays high but absolute capacity falls with air density — contact us for precise sizing in the original Proflute rotor-selection software.

Engineering information

The DanVex AD range is built on the same industrial standards across both series:

  • Proflute silica-gel rotor — from Proflute, one of the two leading European adsorption-rotor manufacturers; a 5–8-year life in non-corrosive service with regeneration below 140 °C; a predictable adsorption curve for thermodynamic modelling
  • Sizing in the original Proflute software — we use the rotor manufacturer's own selection software for project sizing, with full thermodynamic modelling of the process and regeneration streams — more accurate than approximate sizing by room volume
  • Two-fan design — independent process and regeneration fans on every model; room pressure preserved and capacity not eroded by regeneration consuming room air
  • BMS-ready — Modbus RTU RS-485 connectivity standard on every model in both series; direct integration with SCADA, building management systems and facility monitoring without protocol gateways
  • EN 60204 electrical standard — assemblies to the industrial-machinery safety standard; Class I electrical protection; IP44 (Compact) / IPX3 (industrial) enclosure; and IP54 fan motors with Class F insulation on the industrial series
  • Thermal-bridge-free double-wall housing (AD-3000 / AD-5000) — an injected polyurethane panel in a thermally broken aluminium frame, and a condensation-free housing surface in normal operating conditions
  • Programmable PLC + 7″ touch screen (AD-3000 / AD-5000) — a humidity and temperature controller with customisable set-points, schedules and alarm thresholds and full telemetry over RS-485. Industrial-grade circuit components and relays from established European companies
  • No drain required — moisture leaves the unit as warm vapour through the regeneration duct, not as condensate — simpler installation and the elimination of the frequent failure point of frozen drain lines in cold storage
  • Technical documentation and engineering support — full datasheets, wiring diagrams, dimensional drawings and BMS integration notes for qualified contractors on request. Project moisture-load calculations and on-site assistance through the dealer network in Europe and the Middle East

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between adsorption and condensation dehumidification?
Condensation dehumidifiers cool air below its dew point on a cold coil; water condenses and drains away. This is the standard technology of commercial and industrial dehumidifiers at ordinary room temperature (in practice from +15 °C upwards, target 40–60% RH) — energy-efficient in those conditions, but it stops working efficiently in cold environments: below about +5 °C the coil begins to ice up and capacity drops sharply. Adsorption dehumidifiers pass air through a rotating silica-gel rotor that binds water vapour by chemical affinity, then expel the moisture in a separate hot regeneration stream outdoors. Adsorption is the right technology when the environment is colder than about +15 °C, the target is below 30% RH, or both: cold stores, freezers, ice rinks, pharmaceutical dry rooms, battery-production dry rooms, archives in unheated buildings.
When should I choose adsorption over condensation?
Three conditions favour adsorption. Low temperature — below +15 °C ambient condensation loses efficiency, and below about +5 °C it ceases to be a practical technology, whereas adsorption works continuously down to −20 °C. Low target humidity — condensation dehumidifiers do not reach humidity below about 30%; adsorption reaches down to 1% RH in ideal conditions. And no drain available or wanted — adsorption removes moisture as warm vapour through the regeneration duct without condensate. In every other case — ordinary industrial warehouses, manufacturing halls, food production at room temperature, plant growing and water-damage restoration in heated buildings — condensation is more energy-efficient per litre of water removed. For those, see the stationary DanVex DEH-K Series (240–1000 L/day, refrigerant cycle).
Why does adsorption work at temperatures where condensation fails?
Condensation relies on cooling air below its dew point on a chilled coil. The colder the ambient air, the colder the coil must be to keep dehumidifying — and below 0 °C the coil ices up instead of collecting liquid water. Hot Gas Defrost cycles push this failure mode back but do not remove it. Adsorption is a fundamentally different process: water vapour is captured directly onto the silica-gel surface by physical affinity, with no phase change required in the room air — the rotor works on moisture regardless of room temperature, as long as there is something to capture. Regeneration — the step that drives water out of the rotor — uses an electric heater warming a separate, smaller stream to about 100–140 °C, which carries the moisture out of the building. Room temperature on the adsorption side never acts as a limit.
How does the silica-gel rotor work?
The rotor is a cylindrical wheel of silica gel formed on a thin honeycomb substrate: thousands of small channels parallel to the axis of rotation, each lined with active silica gel. The face is divided into two sectors: about 75% of the area is open to process air (the room being dried), 25% to regeneration air (a smaller hot stream from outdoors or a dedicated source). The rotor turns continuously at 8–18 revolutions per hour, and each channel alternately adsorbs moisture from the process stream in the large sector and releases it to the hot regeneration stream in the small one. The streams are physically separated by seals on both faces of the rotor. The ratio of process to regeneration air is about 3:1, the standard of silica-gel rotor technology.
Why a two-fan design rather than a single fan?
A single-fan adsorption unit drives both streams — process and regeneration — with one fan, taking regeneration air from the very room being dried. It is cheaper to build, with two practical consequences: the room is depressurised by the volume exhausted as regeneration, and untreated outdoor air is drawn in through every gap in the envelope — cancelling part of the dehumidification work; and actual capacity is lower because the regeneration stream consumes room air that could have been dried. DanVex AD units have two independent process and regeneration fans: regeneration air is taken from outdoors (or a dedicated source), the room stays pressure-neutral, and the whole process stream goes to drying.
What is the energy cost of regeneration?
Regeneration uses an electric heater warming the smaller regeneration stream to about 100–140 °C, at which it carries moisture out of the silica gel — this is the main energy consumer of an adsorption unit. For context: the AD-3000 has a 30 kW heater, the AD-5000 a 60 kW heater; the Compact and smaller industrial models scale down proportionally. Adsorption is more energy-intensive than condensation per litre of water removed at ordinary room temperature — which is why it is chosen by environment (cold, very dry), not in every case. In cold environments where condensation does not work at all, the comparison is not efficiency but feasibility. Many installations use waste heat from a separate process or off-peak electricity for regeneration.
Do I need a drain connection?
No. Adsorption dehumidifiers remove moisture as warm vapour through the regeneration duct, not as liquid condensate — one of the technology's practical advantages: no drain line to install, no risk of a frozen drain in cold-storage applications and no pump where gravity drainage is unavailable. What is required is a duct path for the regeneration exhaust: a short duct taking the warm humid air out of the building. The process inlet and dry-air outlet are also ducted by default — AD units are designed for installation into a duct network, not for free-standing placement in the room.
Can adsorption and condensation be combined in one project?
Yes — and for some projects it is the most economical answer. The hybrid approach uses condensation dehumidifiers for the main drying at ordinary room temperature and adsorption units for the colder or lower-target zones that condensation cannot reach. Example: a pharmaceutical facility uses stationary DEH-K units for the general production halls (room temperature, target 40–50% RH) and AD Industrial for the dry-room sections (low target, sub-zero dew point). Both series share Modbus RTU RS-485 integration — one BMS sees the whole installation from one screen.
How long does a silica-gel rotor last?
From 5 to 8 years in non-corrosive industrial service with regeneration temperature below 140 °C. DanVex AD units are designed to run below that threshold, keeping the rotor within its design life. Two factors shorten it: aggressive contaminants in the process air (chlorinated cleaning vapours, organic acids, salt aerosol) that attack the silica gel, and thermal overheating of regeneration that damages the substrate — neither is a normal operating mode. The rotor is from Proflute, one of the two leading European manufacturers of adsorption rotors, with documented adsorption curves and material certificates. Rotor replacement at end of life is a service operation, not a unit replacement.
Do AD units integrate with a BMS?
Yes, on every model in both series. Modbus RTU RS-485 connectivity is standard equipment, not an option. The unit appears on the facility BMS or SCADA as a Modbus slave; the BMS reads the humidity set-point, current readings, regeneration-heater status, alarms and run-hour counters, and can issue set-point changes and on/off commands — without a protocol gateway. On the AD-3000 and AD-5000 a programmable PLC with a 7″ screen handles local control and exposes the same data over RS-485. Wiring diagrams and BMS integration notes are provided to qualified contractors on request.
How is the right model sized for my project?
Sizing an adsorption dehumidifier by room volume alone — the "litres per day per cubic metre" rule familiar from condensation units — is misleading for adsorption technology: its capacity is far more sensitive to inlet temperature and humidity, target dew point and required airflow. For every project enquiry DanVex runs a calculation in the original Proflute rotor-selection software, which models the process and regeneration streams with full thermodynamic accuracy — inlet temperature and humidity, target dew point, both airflows, regeneration temperature, ambient conditions. This raises selection accuracy over rules of thumb and reduces the risk of under- or over-specification. Send us the room dimensions, target, moisture sources and operating temperature — we usually return a sizing recommendation within one working day.

Explore further

AD Compact Series — single-phase adsorption 0.6–3 kg/h →
AD Industrial Series — three-phase adsorption 5–36 kg/h →
DEH-K Series — stationary condensation for ordinary temperatures 240–1 000 L/day →
Dehumidifiers — overview of the complete range →